Airline Luxury Battles Between New York and L.A.

The arms race in transcontinental airline service has given consumers some luxurious ways to travel coast to coast, and more are coming soon with mini-suites with privacy doors and first-class cabins tailored for celebrities.

This week’s Middle Seat flies the new flat-bed business class service between New York and Los Angeles offered by United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Even if you don’t sleep, travelers prefer the international flat-bed seats. The food is still airline food, unfortunately, and there are some quirks. The space United offers for your feet is smaller than a foot.

The next weapons deployed will come from American Airlines and jetBlue Airways, both of which say they will raise the bar.

Next year, American will replace all of its wide-body 767-200 jets with narrow-body Airbus A321, complete with an exclusive 10-seat first-class cabin and a 20-seat business-class cabin. Both cabins will have flat beds, and since United and Delta are eliminating first class in favor of fancy business class on New York-Los Angeles flights, American will have the only first class with flat beds in the market. It’s designed with celebrities in mind.

First class will have one seat on each side of the plane angled toward the window. “There’s a segment out there that still values that exclusivity,” said Derek Decross, American’s vice president of global sales. The door behind the first-class cabin will be used, he noted, so that celebrities won’t have to worry about passengers walking through the first-class cabin when they board.

American, which carries more JFK-LAX passengers than any other carrier but has seen its market-share decline on the route in recent years, will likely be giving up more market-share in favor of lower costs and high revenue. The A321s will have 66 fewer seats—only 102 total even though the A321 typically has 185-220 seats – because it will be stuffed with first-class and business-class seats.

And why not?Last year, 9% of American’s passengers on the JFK-LAX route paid more than $1,000 for their ticket, and those passengers produced 45% of American’s $202 million of revenue in that market, according to Department of Transportation data compiled by Planestats.com, a service of consultancy Oliver Wyman. United, which already uses a narrow-body plane loaded with premium seats, had nearly 14% of its JFK-LAX passengers pay more than $1,000 last year, and those customers accounted for 58% of United’s $101 million in revenue in that market.

Like American, JetBlue will also use a specially designed fleet of A321 planes to fly between JFK and LAX. Martin St. George, jetBlue’s senior vice president of marketing, says the planes will have some mini-suites with doors and some open flat-bed seats. The airline hasn’t released details about the new concept, however.

“It will be the best product in the market at a lower fare than what people are paying today,” Mr. St. George said. How low? JetBlue said it anticipates charging less than $1,000 for its flying beds.

The luxury strategy is in keeping with jetBlue’s founding concept because the airline is trying to offer customers something better than what other carriers provide at a lower price. Mr. St. George said some frequent jetBlue customers tell the airline they fly other carriers on transcontinental trips because of the luxury offerings, and would stick with jetBlue if it offered something better.

Comments (5 of 6)

The math might not be horrible. Assume the train does go 200mph or 320 kmph, that's 12.5 hrs as you point out. Now add up flight time. From midtown to JFK in the afternoon runs an hour if traffic is normal. Arrive at JFK an hour early since they might take your bags off if you try to board a 762 with less than 25 minutes to go. Six hours scheduled flight time. Plus waiting for baggage etc., and getting from LAX to your destination. So it's 9 hours vs. 13 hours by train (assuming city centre to city centre). A pipe dream? Of course. But a man can dream, no? (as long as he doesn't control your tax dollars)

We often forget how much time we waste with flying. Say it's NY to Chicago, 750 miles. A 200 mph train is 3:45. That's actually pretty competitive with flying - leave midtown 2 hours before the flight, 2 hours flight time, an hour from ORD to the loop in rush hour = 5 hours or an average speed of 150 mph.

I would love high speed rail like in France or Spain. (Acela is not high speed rail.) Don't think it will ever happen though.

5:06 pm July 30, 2013

Bill wrote :

Phil do the math. Even if the high-speed rail pipedream came true, it is 2500 miles between NY and LA. In the unlikely event that your fictional high speed rail matches the 200 MPH on the TGV and the japanese bullet train, you are looking at a 12.5 hour trip.

And that's if it is a nonstop. Add a dozen or so stops in major cities along the way and you are looking at 15 hours. No one besides the occasional train geek or serious flight-phobe would ever make that ride.

2:57 pm July 26, 2013

jetdeb wrote :

coast to coast on hi speed rail, thats funnny. Even high speed is going to take two days coast to coast. Plus look at Spain, its not flawless. Actually I believe the business class footprint is the same as before...

9:23 pm July 25, 2013

Bob A. Bowie wrote :

Just Give me a Tall Ship- And an Aisle seat.

5:59 pm July 25, 2013

Leigh wrote :

Hi Phil, cross country high speed rail? Uh huh. Not so realistic. Less seats does not necessarily mean economy is jammed together, just fewer economy seats on the nonstops....though, yes, that can only impact fares. Likely will have to go via other hubs to get best rates, which also means the regular domestic product. I do note fewer Business Class seats on the AA aircraft, which will also impact upgrades for the freq flyers, which is unfortunate for those of us that are used to the perk.

About The Middle Seat Terminal

Scott McCartney writes The Middle Seat every Thursday. The Wall Street Journal’s Travel Editor, Scott has been on the airline beat since 1995 — long enough to see it go from bust to boom and back to bust. He also writes a blog on travel at The Middle Seat Terminal.

Scott won the Online News Association award for online commentary in 2003 for “The Middle Seat,” the George Polk Award for transportation reporting in 2000, and has been honored by the Deadline Club and New York’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before joining the Journal in 1993, he spent 11 years at The Associated Press.

Scott, a native of Boston and graduate of Duke University, is the author of four books, includingThe Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel: How to Arrive with Your Dignity, Sanity, and Wallet Intact, which was published in 2009. He’s also an instrument-rated private pilot.